‘Friends’ Is Officially Staying On Netflix — For Now

Well, that was a tumultuous couple of days. First, Friendswas leaving Netflix. Then those were maybe rumors. Now it is official: Ross, Rachel, Joel, Chandler, Phoebe, and Monica are staying put at Netflix — for now.

The New York Times reports that Netflix and WarnerMedia (rights holders of Friends) have reached an agreement to keep the sitcom streaming through 2019. They also note that Netflix will pay a heavy price to keep the show: $100 million for the year, up from about $30 million per year in the previous deal between the two companies. I guess when The Rembrandts were singing about about a job that was a joke and being broke, they were referring to working in Netflix’ acquisitions department. The Times says Netflix viewers were an “especially receptive audience” for the series, which could explain why they were willing to shell out so much money from going on a break with it, and why WarnerMedia could demand so steep a price. For a show that hasn’t had a new episode since 2004, that’s really impressive.

But who cares! Netflix will continue streaming the beloved ’90s sitcom for at least a little while longer. There are no guarantees after 2019 though, so this whole sordid drama could repeat itself next December. At the very least, you have more time to do that binge rewatch you’ve been dreaming about.